


Leave It Be

by EmmyFais



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: AU, Angst, Drama, Exes, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2014-10-28
Packaged: 2018-02-23 01:18:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2528717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmyFais/pseuds/EmmyFais
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this one-shot AU, Atem suffers through distance and troubling thoughts after a breakup with Mai.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leave It Be

It was late. Raining heavily. He was mostly alone in the small twenty-four hour diner. Had a window seat. The perfect set up. It was hard to realize just how perfect until it was suddenly one in the morning. He hadn’t ordered anything in a long while, though he’d been sitting there for hours. But someone put a cup of coffee down in front of him and he cupped it instinctively and raised it to his lips. 

He hated coffee, but this was barely that. Overly sweet and doused with milk. He didn’t even need to look up to know who had put it in front of him. Especially not when she spoke. 

“How long have you been in here brooding?” Her voice was sweet, but carried that usual undertone of sarcasm. Like she cared but could stop any second. She really could, too. 

“I don’t know.” He didn’t want to look at her, even when she pulled a chair out from across him and sat, uninvited. Well, without words. She was welcome to sit wherever she wanted to. He wasn’t going to stop her. As if he could. 

Atem was almost surprised when she reached over and put her hand atop his. He still didn’t look. “It’s not good for you.” Half the reason she’d called it quits. He was barely there most of the time. Stuck in his own little world. Trapped in his mind. It was sick. And he refused to get help. And she couldn’t help him. 

They hadn’t parted on terrible terms. It hadn’t been a giant fight. Just a short and simple understanding. They weren’t good for each other. He knew. She knew. Why fight about it. Why resist? But he hadn’t seen her for months. 

Even then, it was strange how easily it fell into place. Like she’d never taken off. Like they’d never parted. 

He didn’t answer her, really because anything he could say would be inflammatory to his own case. He knew she didn’t like it. He didn’t like it. But it was who he was. 

So she withdrew her hand, used it to put her chin in as she rested her elbow on the table. Gave a dissatisfied sigh. “How bad?” When he looked at her with those dull, tired eyes she frowned. “Atem...” 

It wasn’t accusatory but it rankled him anyway. “What, Mai? Why are you even here?” It was easy to be so defensive. She just brought it out of him. He didn’t want to talk about it. Because she already knew. She had to have. So probing him wasn’t going to get them anywhere. 

Where did she get off just leaving after years and then showing up in the dead of night to some little shit hole in the wall place? Where, exactly, did Mai Kujaku think she was? Or with? 

She let his ire roll right down her shoulders and off her back. It was easy, when you’d gotten used to it. “I saw you moping in the window on my way home.” 

“I didn’t even notice you walk by.” It wasn’t supposed to have sounded as hurtful as it was. He genuinely had not seen anyone go by for hours, but he knew she wasn’t lying. 

“No, you wouldn’t have.” Sighing, leaning back in her chair, brushing her long blonde hair away from her shoulder. He was a mess. He was always going to be a mess. But he wasn’t hers to clean up after any longer. She needed to be free from that. There wasn’t a moment she’d regretted.

...usually.   
Some nights she did lie awake.  
Wondered how he was.  
If he was even around anymore.   
And even now she... almost wished it were different. That she had the capacity he needed, and that he had had what she needed. The tolerance. She just didn’t. That was all. And neither did he. They’d agreed on it. Incompatibility. And they’d blinded themselves to it for years. 

He took another sip of the coffee she’d brought him, finally really looking at her. She looked good. There had never been a moment in her life that she hadn’t. Healthy. Not even touched by the rain. “What were you doing out so late?” 

Her eyebrows narrowed and her lips thinned. “You don’t want to play that game.” He had no right to question her, probably about as much right as she had. But she liked to believe she had more of an upper hand. At least she was still out living her life. 

“No I suppose I don’t.” His eyes drifted again and he was gone in another snap. “It was nice seeing you.” The sound was hollow but not insincere. The dismissal was easy. 

The noise she made was aggravated. He was going to waste away. He already was. And nobody was going to help him. “Yeah. Sure.” She pushed back from her chair hard enough for it to make a loud sound against the floor. As much as she wanted to walk away and never look back she stopped. 

Reaching out with as much gentleness as she could, she brushed back some of his bangs from his face. He didn’t even react. “Do you still have my number?” Making concessions even now. It was sick. It really was. And she knew he did. But he’d never call. 

“Somewhere.” Breathed out in a sigh. He wished she’d just go away. They hadn’t left on bitter terms but she put a bitter taste in his mouth now. Only because he knew that she knew. Knew too much about him. Where his mind was. The vulnerability was stifling. 

Her hand dropped away, clenching at her side once it was concealed. Not that he was looking. “Goodbye, Atem.” She needed to get out of there. Far away. From him. His problems. If only she could force herself to just not care, life would be so much simpler. 

As she walked away he finally did look away from the window once more. Watched her go. Wished he’d had enough strength to say something else when she’d been sitting there. And then she was gone, and he saw her cross the street. Watched her walk off before he couldn’t see her any longer. Then his gaze cast down to the coffee she’d bought him. Half finished. 

He pushed it across the table to the side she’d been sitting at. Breathed out. And was gone again in just another instant.


End file.
